Dr. Hader vies for Reichert's 8th Congressional District seat

NCW Media Managing Editor Gary Bégin interviewed Democrat Party candidate Dr. Shannon Hader about why she wants to take Congressman Dave Reichert’s 8th Congressional seat when he retires. Her answers follow:

NCW Media: Why do you want to be our Congresswoman?

Shannon Hader: I’m running for office because I don’t see the government working for us right now. I will turn that around and hold President Trump accountable. I’m a doctor, scientist, and public health expert, and chose a life of service, joining the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service. I’ve spent a professional lifetime making federal government people, policies, and dollars work for us from community level, to national level, to global level. At CDC, I led nearly 2,000 people across 45 countries, managing $2.4 billion with transparency and accountability driving outcomes and quality up and costs down, helping save millions of lives. That’s a successful bipartisan program. In fact, I’ve worked under four Administrations Democrat and Republican. I’m new to being a politician, but not to how to get things done in Congress. I’m ready to deliver for the people of the 8th District from Day One.

NCW Media: How has your experience as a doctor made you ready to tackle D.C.?

Hader: Healthcare is a major concern right now we’re at risk of losing benefits like coverage of pre-existing conditions. We need to achieve 100 percent truly accessible, affordable, high quality healthcare for all. I’m a Med/Peds doctor fully qualified in both internal medicine and pediatrics. I’ve provided clinical services as a medical doctor across our healthcare system:  academic medical centers, children’s hospitals, VA medical centers, Safety-net public hospitals, and community clinics that accept all patients.  I’ve also worked at all levels of the healthcare system (providing clinical care; helping set up or improve clinics and quality; strengthening women’s health services; serving on the Board of a safety net hospital; serving as a Health Policy Fellow in the Senate during ACA implementation). So I bring a unique view of the struggles of patients and families as well as the barriers and bureaucracies that get in the way of good care and good health. I bring the insights, experience, and skill sets to both ‘vote’ and support key legislation, and also craft legislation and to influence the discussion and understanding of colleagues in the House in a unique way. There are zero women physicians in the House right now  it’s time for a change.

NCW Media: What Washington State issues will you bring to D.C.?

Hader: Many! One I’ll focus on is protection of the environment and promotion of a new green economy. Here in the 8th, I like to say we’re a “purple” district (both Democrat and Republican), yet we’re entirely “green.”  About 50 percent of district is public lands; people are incredibly connected to these lands be it for recreation, business, or a legacy for our children. We defy any sort of national stereotype that “green” is somehow a partisan issue. It’s not.  And we’re at a critical time to prove that and urgently lead by example.  As your Congresswoman, I will:  protect our public lands from being sold off, contaminated, or otherwise harmed; invest in mitigation of the climate effects we are already seeing (such as forest fires) and clean-up of environmental harms (clean-up of Hanford nuclear site); invest in an innovation clean economy, that builds on our great wind, sun, and water resources, and ensures purposeful inclusion of new jobs and career tracks for workers currently involved in carbon fuel-based industries.

NCW Media: In regards to Hirst and McCleary, are there any federal unfunded government mandates you would change to benefit the 8th District?

Hader: Yes.  We still have too much variability in quality and achievement across our schools, and more to do to close those gaps. Our federal resources should support the ability of communities to do so. Clearly the burdens of addressing the ‘achievement gap’ have been placed all too often on the shoulders of teachers, without supportive resources put in place to address the broader social and economic gaps  resources that should be mobilized from beyond education budgets alone. A good friend who’s a teacher compares her times teaching in Covington vs Bonnie Lake test scores,(they) were lower in the former and higher in the latter, yet she ‘never worked harder’ than when she was in Covington. This is a pretty common experience and relates to the need for a more comprehensive approach, beyond McCleary, to schools and students who are caught in these gaps. In addition to stronger community investments and partnerships to address issues of homelessness, violence, food access, health, and other challenges, we should ensure strong investments in educator professional learning that empower them with additional tools and pay them more adequately; include sufficient supports for personalized learning for all students.  As a pediatrician and a public health expert, I know that much of the achievement gap starts well before school age (from language exposure to nutritional and health management), and I will fight to mobilize critical supports both inside and outside the education system, such as full investment in Head Start, universal pre-school, and other early childhood programs, before and after school care, income support for families, and intensified wrap-around services (including school nurses) on campus.

NCW Media: How do you feel about DACA and immigration issues as a whole?

Hader: As I’ve travelled across our “purple” district, speaking with voters both red and blue, I’ve found tremendous support from both sides for the immediate passage of a clean and free DACA bill. Americans have honest disagreements on a lot of things, but one thing we can agree on is providing stability for our kids, families and communities. It’s not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but a human issue. Passing DACA should be a bipartisan charge to strengthen our communities - and I am fully committed to ensuring the success of a permanent, clean, and clear bill.  

In fact, across our immigration issues, we should not separate families it’s heartbreaking and flies in the face of what America stands for. We are a better nation when we recognize and embrace the tremendous value that immigrants bring to our great country. That’s why I will support a clean and robust DACA bill; support comprehensive immigration reform that improves our process and predictability for legal immigration and includes a pathway to citizenship so that families are kept together; provide immigration and border enforcement agencies with the tools and training needed to ensure robust border protection with fair and humane treatment at the borders. I also support immediate efforts to maintain and modernize our temporary worker visa programs to assist our farmers with their dire labor shortages. This labor issue should not be delayed for more comprehensive reforms. I will not support immigration policies that discriminate based on ethnicity or religion. I will be a champion of our newest citizens, and OneAmerica Votes has endorsed me as their candidate in this race to stand up for the inclusion of immigrants in our communities.

NCW Media: Are you in favor of tariffs against both ally and foe?

Hader: We must enforce trade agreements and policies to make sure American jobs and markets are not disadvantaged, and targeted tariffs can be an effective tool in that.  China, in particular, has gotten away with a lot of unfair trade practices, from currency manipulation to reactive agricultural restrictions to breaking intellectual property agreements, and we need to hold them accountable.  However, I don’t support the current, “shoot from the hip” chaotic approach to blanket tariffs and trade policy that is destabilizing our markets and threatens to become a full trade war.  

We are a unique district:  we have intellectual property interests (Amazon, Microsoft employees), BOEING production plant interests, specialty crop agriculture, and a shuttered ALCOA aluminum plant outside Wenatchee.  Our residents understand the complex nature of trade and trade-offs, and none want a ‘winner take all’ approach to trade that puts neighbors out of work.  So our approach to trade negotiations and responses including the imposition of tariffs needs to be transparent, predictable, and with clear parameters for success.

Not only is instability damaging, but it also has a chilling effect on new opportunities.  We rely on expanding markets overseas and developing new ones – either with new partners or for innovative products produced here in Washington and across the country. We must strive to minimize damage and maximize opportunities that serve our workers and businesses.

For those reasons, your next representative in the 8th District must combine an understanding of our jobs and families with experience in global diplomacy – the kind of experience that I’ve gained over decades of working with diplomats and governments to combat disease.  Foreign Policy for America Action PAC has endorsed me as the candidate in this race to help achieve a better foreign police future.

NCW Media: Is the embassy being placed in Jerusalem a problem to you?

Hader: I don’t think the process by which the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem was made and announced was the best we could have used the process to leverage concessions useful to the peace process, and possibly to bring other allies along. However, we’ve formally recognized Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel for some time, and so moving the embassy to Jerusalem is an important step. I support a stronger role for our Department of State and career diplomats in helping to craft and implement our Middle East Strategy, and I support efforts to ensure the safety and security of our Jerusalem embassy is robust. 

NCW Media: Should the U.S. withdraw from NATO?

Hader: We should absolutely not withdraw from NATO.  We are stronger, safer, and more prosperous here at home when we work collaboratively with our allies, and when they are safe and secure. 

NCW Media: What about Iraq/Afghanistan? Stay, leave or something in the middle?

Hader: I’ve had the privilege of working in Afghanistan to complement the work of our armed services in “winning hearts and minds” by helping people – working to expand family planning and child survival products and programs to the farthest reaches of the country.  Our troops have sacrificed much and invested both effort and treasure to support freedom, democracy, and stability for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is devastating that we are still there, and it seems in many ways the dynamics especially in Afghanistan are getting even more difficult.  Some of our investments have not made great sense. For example we have dedicated troops to training and supporting the local military in hopes of professionalizing it.  However, we did not invest early on in some core investments such as helping local soldiers become literate, making sure they were paid on time that are critical to a functional, professional force to serve a burgeoning democracy. So we have not made the gains hoped for.

So what now? I support ‘somewhere in the middle’ I want fewer and fewer American troops over the long haul, and reduced U.S. expenditures, but without leaving a sudden vacuum of power that further destabilizes the middle east and does disservice to the American sacrifices to date. This requires a revamping of our military, humanitarian, and allied partnerships.

NCW Media: Is gun violence/safety/rights something you would address if elected?

Hader: Yes. My niece and her husband own a hunting-fishing outfitters company they feed their family based on safe gun ownership. I support the 2nd Amendment. I also like gun owners and non-gun owners alike want to see fewer deaths by guns.  We can do that, by addressing gun violence prevention as a public health issue, finding tools to decrease gun murders, accidents, and suicides. We managed to “keep” cars and decrease deaths by car accidents. We did it by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doing public health research on airbags, seatbelts, and speed limits, finding out what worked, and turning it into policy. We can do that for guns. I will mandate and fund CDC to resume gun violence prevention research, require rapid progress and results, and turn what works into policy. I also support immediately instituting universal background checks, and making systems that do those checks functional and complete. I support funding programs to implement policies we already have, such as ensuring people who’ve received a court order to relinquish their firearms, do so.

NCW Media: Tell the readers about yourself: Hobbies, family, education, etc.

Hader: I’m a 5th generation Washingtonian, with three generations (grandfather, father, sister) of union members in my family. I grew up in Auburn, graduated Auburn High School and went off to college to become the first person in my family to get a four-year degree, eventually becoming a medical doctor and a public health expert.  My dad is a Navy vet and a 30-year BOEING guy, my Mom taught dance and art at community and senior centers, where she still volunteers. My parents raised us kids with some pretty core values:  work hard, take care of the people around you, and try to make the world a little better place.   

I get to say, “somehow my Grandpa, or Safeway, knew this was going to be a district way before it ever was one.” He drove truck for Safeway for 46 years, and his nightly route was Tukwila-Leavenworth-Wenatchee and back.  So there really is a long-standing connection across this district, large and varied as it is. I love to travel, meet new people, explore new places. Growing up, my Dad would say, “nothing makes you value being American as much as traveling overseas.” For me, this is absolutely true. I know it’s my strong family and strong roots in this area that gave me the stability to be stationed and deployed all over the country and all over the world, fighting disease and saving lives. I’m lucky to have had the family I do, the education I got, and the privilege of choosing to serve our country. It’s those things that have made me who I am today, and prepared me to serve you and the people of the 8th.